Thank you, convener. I do not have legislation or regulations to propose this week, but I will make a brief statement about the First Minister’s statement and the progress that we are making on the pandemic.
As members will know, on Tuesday, the First Minister set out the details of the updated strategic framework for tackling Covid, which the Scottish Government has published. She provided an indicative timeframe for cautiously easing restrictions and restoring greater normality to our lives—we would all greatly welcome that—as quickly as we can and in a safe and sustainable manner, ensuring that we are driven by data and not merely by dates.
We have made one significant relaxation of lockdown this week. From Monday, children returned to early learning and childcare settings, and pupils in primaries 1 to 3 returned to school. That is very welcome. Some secondary school students are also now going back to school for essential practical work. It is important to see what impact that has on transmission before we commit to further relaxation.
The current position is positive and promising, but it is still quite precarious. If we are to sustain our progress, we need to exercise care and caution. Maximum suppression is important for our chances of getting back to normal. We intend to publish a further document in mid-March that gives more detail on the sequencing of reopening the economy from late April onwards. However, we have set out the overall approach to easing restrictions over the next few weeks.
Let me turn to the priorities and the indicative timeframe. I confirm that, if all goes according to plan, we will move fully back to a levels system from the last week in April. We hope that, at that stage, all parts of the country that are currently in level 4 will be able to move out of it and back initially to level 3 and that those in level 3 may move to level 2—possibly with some revision to the content of the levels—and afterwards to levels dependent on the incidence and prevalence of the virus at that time. Moving back to the variable levels system at that time will also be contingent on our having offered vaccination to all Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation priority groups 1 to 9. We hope to have done that by mid-April, supplies permitting.
From the last week in April, we expect to see phased but significant reopening of the economy, including the reopening of non-essential retail, hospitality and services such as gyms and hairdressers. We envisage a progressive easing of the current level 4 restrictions, which apply across most of Scotland, at intervals of at least three weeks along with changes nationally on education and care home visiting, with the immediate priority being the continued return of schools and, of course, the easing of restrictions on care home visiting from early March.
As I have said, the next phase of easing will be a minimum of three weeks later—so, indicatively, from 15 March. We hope that that will include the next phase of school return, which will start with the rest of the primary school years—years 4 to 7—and getting more senior phase secondary pupils back in the classroom for at least part of their learning. We also hope to restart outdoor non-contact group sports for 12 to 17-year-olds. We will aim to increase the limit on outdoor mixing between households to four people from a maximum of two households, compared with two from two at the moment.
I hope that the stay-at-home restriction will be lifted at a minimum of three weeks after that—from 5 April. We would aim for any final phase of school return to take place on or after that date. I hope that communal worship will start at the Easter weekend—that is, the weekend of 4 April—albeit with restricted numbers to begin with, but taking into account the timing of major religious festivals. We will seek to ease the restrictions on outdoor gatherings so that at least six people from two households can meet together. That phase will begin the reopening of retail. That will start with an extension of the definition of “essential retail” and the removal of restrictions on click and collect.
Three weeks after that—from 26 April—assuming that the data allows it, we will move back to levels with, I hope, all of Scotland moving to level 3, albeit with some possible modifications. At that stage, we will begin to reopen the economy and society in the more substantial way that we are all longing for and looking for.
In mid-March, we hope to set out more details of the further reopening that will take place over April and into May and into a summer in which we hope to be living with much greater freedoms than we have been able to today.
I hope that that has been useful. I am, of course, available to take any questions, as are those who are with me. Jason Leitch has been here with me many times before, and Dominic Munro has special knowledge of the frameworks. I am sure that that can be helpful.